Hey all, with beta drawing to a close, I wanted to share a DH Longbow build I had reasonable success with in PvP. This was tested primarily in Unranked matches (mostly because I didn’t want to get grief for bringing a beta character into Ranked matches).
Partial Build setup (excluding DH traits/weapons):
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQFASlsAhahYrQwUIQQEGMEFuCSuR4WsdZAA-TJBFABFcBAEvMQN7PAwDAAA
Other Components:
Longbow (Air/Blood or Air/Fire sigils)
Alternate Rune Set: Soldier, specifically for fighting condition-heavy teams, or if your team is lacking cleansing. I like to run Pack Runes when I’m able, though, because they synergize with AH while giving you almost permanent swiftness and 80% crit chance (which is awesome for Mighty Blow, True Shot, and Hunter’s Ward).
DH Traits: Soaring Devastation, Hunter’s Determination, Hunter’s Fortification
Concept:
This build was born mostly out of frustrations with the new DH Virtues and Longbow, and in the end, I built for the Longbow while turning my focus away from Virtues. My intial tests were with Meditation builds, but I found that Meditations weren’t offering me the setup I needed to compensate for the Longbow’s long cast times and self-roots, and that I lacked the mobility needed to properly kite with the Longbow.
As it happens, Shouts fix most of these issues. They provide Quickness, Stability, and Swiftness for the DH, which work wonderfully with both the Hammer and Longbow skills. The loss of the Virtues traitline gives you less sustain than AH builds that aren’t running DH, but the ability to kite and position freely with the Longbow offsets this and lets you focus on pressuring the opposing team.
It’s fair to ask why you shouldn’t just drop DH for Virtues and run Scepter/Focus instead of Longbow. My answer is that Longbow is devastating in teamfights when paired with Quickness and Stability. I would generally approach teamfights with Symbol of Energy and Deflecting Shot, and then when I was at mid-range, I’d cast SYG/FMW and follow up with Hunter’s Ward. That alone ended more than a few teamfights, since opponents aren’t expecting such a fast cast from HW. Most of their team gets snared while your team receives Quickness, Fury, and Stability, and since Hunter’s Ward is coming off of 75-80% crit chance, it’s also pumping out an easy 4-5k damage to each target. Seeing 3 or more people go down on the final pulse isn’t unusual, and it’s easy to clean up anything that lives with True Shot, your Hammer, and the leap from Soaring Devastation.
That said, good positioning is important with this build, because you need to balance your personal survival and your team support. With the Longbow, you usually want to be kiting around the edges of a teamfight, rather than sniping from 1200 range, since your Shouts won’t reach your allies if you’re beyond 600 range. Dropping surprise True Shots and Hunter’s Wards from 1200 range before entering the fight can be effective, but that’s not how you want to spend a majority of your time. Hammer sustains well enough in most teamfights, but being able to switch to Longbow for kiting, extra Vigor, and Deflecting Shot is always a good fallback when pressure starts rising too high.
To wrap this up, I felt like I had a significant presence in most teamfights using this build along with respectable sustain, damage, and mobility. Feedback on the build is welcome, since I’m sure some improvements can be made, and hopefully some people have a chance to test the build out before the beta ends. Thanks for taking the time to read!